TBA:20
Mobile Projection Unit: Fernanda D'Agostino and Sarah Turner
Against the Current
DATES
September 21 | 8:30 PM PDT American Chameleon: The Living Installments by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko LOCATION | PICA, 15 NE Hancock St., Portland, OR
September 28 | 8:30 PM PDT IN LIEU OF AN OCEAN (SEND FLOWERS), curated by Jibade-Khalil Huffman
LOCATION | PICA, 15 NE Hancock St., Portland, OR
September 30 | 9:30 PM PDT | Against the Current by Mobile Projection Unit
LOCATION | Eastbank Esplanade | under the Marquam Bridge, under the Morrison Bridge, or under the Burnside Bridge | LOCATION INFORMATION HERE
Masks/face coverings will be required and physical distancing will be practiced.
DESCRIPTION
Against the Current takes viewers on an audiovisual performance journey beside the Willamette River. Along the way they will encounter three performance installations mapping the wide-ranging moods of water as it flows and cascades. Spatialized video projections, creative coding, and live sound and movement performances transform places we think we know into portals into another time or another world. Crystal Quartez and Yaara Valey will be creating live sound to begin and end the path. Movement artist Sarah Brahim will be activating the live video code of the Liminal Performance Space as you find your way. Video Yunuen Rhi is creating of a ritual of healing and water will fold into the larger work. Viewers will be assisted along the way by a pair of “guides” with portable projection “lanterns.” Other performers appearing in the videos include Jaleesa Johnston, Sophia Wright Emigh, Linda K Johnson, Ela Fala Collective (Barbara Lima and Jordan Kristan), Kusanagi Sisters (Lisa and Juju Kusanagi. ) Meet us along the river and see what you discover.
ABOUT
Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) is a roving studio that presents new, experimental, site-specific outdoor video projections throughout Portland, Oregon. Our work focuses on spatializing video through projection mapping, and live interactive video performance through creative coding. Founded and directed by Sarah Turner and Fernanda D’Agostino in 2018, MPU is also a curatorial project, putting the tools of production into the hands of artists. MPU has worked with media artists Sharita Towne, Sabina Haque, rubén garcía marrufo, Jaleesa Johnston, Craig Winslow, Megan McKissack, Victoria Wells, and Hasan Mahmood. MPU received a 2020 Northwest Film Center commission to create “Phases of the Moon” for the Portland International Film Festival. Recent projects include “been there,” a series of experimental works by Black filmmakers curated by ariella tai and presented as a drive-in movie, and screenings with Snack Bloc in support of BLM. MPU is funded in part by the Precipice Fund through The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Calligram Foundation, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Sarah Turner is an artist, new media curator, creative producer, and art director. Fernanda D’Agostino is an interactive video installation artist, public artist, and creative coder.
Crystal Cortez (Springs) is a musician, creative coder, professor and creative producer based in Portland, Oregon. Under her performance moniker Crystal Quartez she weaves field recordings, synthesis, self-made electronics, and multi-channel sound spatialization to produce complex sonic realms. Her work often blends sound with interactive tech and performance art to produce ceremonial atmospheres for deconstruction, release and rebuilding. Her practice has recently explored the development of interactive sculptural interfaces and wearable technology that use movement and sensor data to free the performer from their equipment. Her art has been shown at PNCA, Disjecta, PICA, Navel (LA) and more.
Yunuen Rhi: Springs (Remote): We are a two-spirit martial movement instructor, anthropologist, performance artist, and healer. Our roots are in Mexico, the United States, and Korea. We have cultivated ourselves in western, eastern, native medicine pathways and practices as a way to deepen the understanding of “selves.” Our performance interest lie in ritual and social practice as a way to create effective bridges between performance and community needs in a decolonial setting.
Sarah Brahim is a performance and visual artist from Saudi Arabia. Her work includes video installation, live performance, textiles and dance collaborations for galleries, museums, performance and film festivals. Her work is rooted in experiences of the body such as identity, loss, borders, and immigration.
Yaara Valey Perczek is a multidisciplinary performer, sound healer and media artist of Jewish Latinx heritage based in Portland. She utilizes looping technology to create vocal-based live transmissions. Yaara trained in movement based expressive arts therapy and her work is centered in somatic reconnection. In addition to her solo work, she collaboratively creates work for dance, film, and other performance art projects.